James O’Keefe is known for his investigative journalism, which effectively exposed ACORN for what they are. Unfortunately, even people who do good work make bad choices.
A conservative activist who posed as a pimp to target the community-organizing group ACORN and the son of a federal prosecutor were among four people arrested by the FBI and accused of trying to interfere with phones at Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office.
Activist James O’Keefe, 25, was already in Landrieu’s New Orleans office Monday when Robert Flanagan and Joseph Basel, both 24, showed up claiming to be telephone repairmen, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office said Tuesday. Letten says O’Keefe recorded the two with his cell phone.
Flanagan, the son of acting U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan in Shreveport, and Basel asked for access to a phone at the reception desk. Then they asked for access to a phone closet so they could work on the phone system. The men were directed to another office in the building, where they again said they were telephone repairmen.
They were arrested later by the U.S. Marshal’s Service. Details of the arrest were not available. A fourth man, Stan Dai, 24, was also arrested, but Letten’s office said only that he assisted the others in planning, coordinating and preparing the operation.
Federal officials did not say why the men wanted to interfere with Landrieu’s phones or whether they were successful. Landrieu, a moderate Democrat, declined comment Tuesday. She has been in the news recently because she negotiated an increase in Medicaid funds for her state before announcing her support for Senate health care legislation.
Michelle Malkin writes:
But for now, let it be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives interested in investigative journalism:
Know your limits. Know the law. Don’t get carried away. And don’t become what you are targeting.
Good advice. Here’s the thing: The fact that O’Keefe screwed up doesn’t suddenly exhonerate ACORN. What O’Keefe exposed was still fact. We have seen it with our own eyes.
The long dormant ACORN Twitter account has resurrected itself to gloat, and ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis will be on the Ed Show to no doubt deemphasize the work that O’Keefe did. Unfortunately, the damage is done for ACORN.
I really think it’s irrelevant, overall. The guy did something really, really stupid. Yeah, he should be punished. But for the Left to celebrate as if all the wrongs of ACORN are now righted is just ridiculous. Get a grip. They’re not any less corrupt now than they were this morning. Sorry guys.
Why don’t you put TOOL next to your C A C heading above. Scream ACORN all you want tabby. This is about federal charges against the idiot who led sophisticated fools like yourself astray.
Buster Brown Says:
January 26th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Buster Brown Says:
January 26th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Why don’t you put TOOL next to your C A C heading above. Scream ACORN all you want tabby. This is about federal charges against the idiot who led sophisticated fools like yourself astray.
Buster Brown: you’re the tool, not Tabitha. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and for the record, Tab was right WAYYYYY before James O’Keefe EXPOSED the corruption at ACORN, dude.
Buster…
The only person “led astray” here would be you. Open those eyes of your and that mind. Don’t let your foolish idealism blind you to reality. Your perspective here realy does make you a ‘tool’(a fool used for anothers gain).
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He didn’t expose anything… his ACORN espose is laughable and only morons like you buy it. Now he’s going to prison for a long, long time where he’ll be violated in more ways than I find acceptable. Maybe after his time in the big house he’ll become a prison reform activist.
It wasn’t as if they were a couple of innocent retirees driving around and happening apon the speaker of the House talking. Hangum!
What’s all this about “What O’Keefe exposed was still fact. We have seen it with our own eyes.” Really? Years ago there was this Simpsons episode where Homer appears on this sleazy show called Rock Bottom. He went there to clear up accusations that he committed sexual harassment by touching some girl’s behind when a candy was stuck to it and he pulled it off of her. So he said some things including “Just thinking about that sweet candy”, the editors turned it into “that sweet can… just thinking about that sweet can…” So, instead of letting Homer explain himself on TV, his words were twisted through editing to confirm that he is in fact the monster they were saying he was…
I think that many people have seen this – it makes it clear I think that editing can be used, that a video can be framed, that voice-overs can be used, to create misleading impressions.
By the way, Breitbart kept some of the transcripts on his site that prove that the videos were doctored. Breitbart clearly has a bit of the Barnum in him in that he doesn’t think that the “liberal media” would be willing to go there to debunk his ridiculous claims. Remember that this same Breitbart was behind the “hear our prayers Obama” hoax.
We know that in most of the cases, he did not wear his pimp getup for the ACORN office, yet the videos are framed with him strutting about in the outfit. Once at ACORN, he claimed not to be a pimp, but the prostitute’s boyfriend trying to free her from an abusive pimp. The other prostitutes are also thrall to this pimp and are to be freed. The tax advice is something that the ACORN employees must give – that is even illegal money must be taxed and those making that money are not under obligation to incriminate themselves – the Fifth Amendment, you see. So they said “Don’t call it prostitution” on the video because that’s what they’re supposed to do. And they of course want to help save people from an abusive pimp. In short, these people were trying to help people whom they thought were in trouble, they are being punished for being compassionate. That is what is the most disgusting part about all of this. They hate ACORN because it helps people in trouble, it helps communities in trouble, and it’s as if they use the compassion against them. This is why I consider O’Keefe and Breitbart and the rest to be evil.